I find any private airport interesting, and this one is particularly so, primarily because the two hangars appear to be entirely underground.
I did some detective work to see what company or individual would have A) the resources and B) the need for a location enviable by even the most discerning Bond villain, and discovered that there may be a link with Land's End, headquartered in nearby Dodgeville.
The structure on the far left of the second photo would support this, as it appears to be some kind of large theater or presentation hall.
Further investigation suggests that the property may have transferred ownership to the owner of a building/construction company.
Whomever the owner may be, he or she is certainly fortunate to have such a magnificent lair. I can only imagine how amazing it would be to wake up, shower, shave, get dressed, and then stroll through a tunnel to your airplane, safe and sound in its underground hangar.
I'm betting either they are above ground tie-down areas or the hangar structures have been removed. Hangars that rise out of the ground and then go back down, like aircraft carrier elevators, would be pretty cool though.
ReplyDeleteI once heard of an engineering project looking into underground airbases (runways and hangars) planned in Israel. Aircraft would fly in and out of an opening. Don't know if anything ever became of it though.
I have since done a bit of research, and discovered that the airport may have been built by the founder of the Land's End company, based in nearby Reedsburg, WI. I suspect it might still be owned and used by the owners of the company, and/or by the company itself.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are correct. Those are underground hangars and yes it's owned (or at least was built by) the founder of Lands End. His son tried to start an air cargo company back in the late 90's with a Caravan based in MSN, that might be the one you saw the flight plan for. There is a private instrument approach serving the airport too.
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